"African-American spirituality is the foundation of the embodied soul's ability to be centered or anchored in God and then stand for God in the community," writes Flora Wilson Bridges, an ordained Baptist minister who has served as dean of chapel at Spelman College and Fisk University. She is pastor of Grace Community Church in Gadsden, Alabama. In this thoughtful work, Bridges presents an overview of African-American spirituality using folk materials as a touchstone of the truest expression of black soulfulness.

The author starts out with a bang by looking at the building blocks of a unified African worldview: a circular conception of time, community structures, the importance of ancestors, the role of grandparents, the centrality of God as Creator, hospitality toward strangers, and a belief in witchcraft. Bridges shows how these elements were incorporated into the lives of descendents in America as they struggled for freedom. The black church is delineated as the linchpin sustaining the community through hard times.

Bridges does a fine job depicting the important role of exemplary leaders in the resurrection song of African Americans. She gives stirring portraits of Howard Thurman, Ruby Bridges, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. She also salutes the theological vision of evil and salvation in three black films — Sankofa, Daughters of the Dust, and The Piano Player.